


Cognizance

by Vanhalla



Series: Salvation [3]
Category: Christian Tradition Lore & Folklore, Original Work
Genre: Fallen Angel Azazel, Gen, Internal Monologue, Philosophy, Short One Shot, Uriel talks alot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26292637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vanhalla/pseuds/Vanhalla
Summary: Uriel takes a break from work, and is attacked by Azazel, who's getting a bit tired of all the angels mingling with their business, and wants to get revenge.During the battle, Uriel thinks about things. And she starts talking.(This is the third and last installement of the Salvation trilogy. If you haven't read the other two, I greatly ask you to, else you might be a little confused)
Series: Salvation [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1904560
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Cognizance

Uriel yawned and stretched as she stood up from her chair, the wood creaking with the weight.

She'd been working for 80 hours consecutively.  _ She really needed a break. A lunch break.  _

Her stomach rumbled, as if to emphasize that thought, and she sighed, reaching for her lunchbox.  _ Maybe she could go eat near Mount Fuji. It was rather nice there at this time of year, with the blooming cherry trees. Would make for a nice sight. _

Stretching up her wings, the tired joints and muscles straining with the effort, she flew off her office, and went to find the nicest place in the clouds, one where she wouldn't be disturbed, and could eat in peace.

She sat down on the ivory, and sighed, placing her lunchbox down next to her and opening it up, taking out a sandwich, staring at the sky for a bit, taking in the calm and quiet of the area.

She had barely started eating, however, when she saw something flying in the sky, and she squinted, looking closer. A small crimson smudge in the distance was growing bigger, and she raised her head, momentarily rubbing the lense of her glasses to make sure she was seeing correctly.

_ Was that- _

A demon pounced on her, and she hissed, feeling claws dig into her skin and the fabric of her tunic.

As she was tumbling around the clouds, she saw her sandwich fall, and frowned, a bit annoyed.  _ And here she thought she'd get some time to eat peacefully. _

She kicked back whoever was attacking her, and the demon wobbled back, wings up, the bracelets on his pale, tattooed arms clinking as he moved.

_ Oh, she felt like she recognized him.  _

"Oh, darn, now look at what you've done! My sandwich fell!" She exclaimed, quickly reaching for her box to close it, as to avoid any more incidents.

"What do you want? I wasn't even doing anything!!" She snarled, and he growled, ignoring her question to pounce back, trying to scratch her face. She quickly dodged, and kicked him in the face. He growled and fell back, and jumped again, and she tapped three times in a circle across his chest, knocking him back, before summoning her spear and pointing it at him as a warning, wings puffing up. The demon bared his teeth.

"You  _ angels  _ have been snooping around our pack for long enough, turning our demons into goody-two shoes left and right, and I've had enough!  _ I want revenge!! _ "

Uriel lifted an eyebrow. "Oh, is that so?"

_ Thinking about it, having both Sylal and Beelzebub switch sides in so little time could definitely feel weird to a newer demon like him. Uriel knew this wasn't the first time this happened, just as there will be other Angels who would fall down to Hell, but it definitely was something that could end up annoying one or a few demons. _

"Is it maybe that, you feel abandoned, is that it? Your friends all leaving you, it must've-" Uriel started, but was cut off.

"Oh, fuck off, they ain't my friends, they're a buncha  _ pussies _ ." The demon spat, and then pounced on her again, and, quickly, Uriel raised her spear, the point piercing the skin of the demon, drawing blood, before he was knocked back, and rolled across the clouds. Uriel stayed on her guards, watching him stumble, but, after a minute, seeing he was still down, she sighed, and grabbed her lunch box, spear disappearing.

"Oh uh, you're still alive right?" She asked, mildly concerned.

The demon's torso was bleeding, and he was breathing heavily. 

"Fuck off." He hissed, and she looked at him closer.

_ Oh, yeah, still alive. She had made sure to not hit any vital points. She didn't want to kill him, after all. _

"Come on, just  _ kill me.  _ I'm weak, I'm defenseless,  _ end my misery."  _ He snarled.

Uriel crouched down to his height, and tilted her head. "You're gonna live, don't worry about that. It'll just take some time to heal."

_ So why wouldn't she kill him? Why wouldn't she kill any demon? She definitely had the power to. So why not do it? _

She sat next to him, and grabbed a sandwich. 

"Might as well eat while we wait."

She handed it to him, and he frowned, turning on his side. Uriel chuckled, and took a bite from it.

"Okay then, more for me."

The breeze was soft today. It wasn't too warm, but enough. As she looked down, she saw cherry trees, gently swaying in the wind. And from very far away, a few human tourists, walking around the mountain.

"Why don't I kill you, hm?" Uriel mumbled.

"Huh? Is that a thr-" the demon coughed, and whimpered. "a threat??"

She completely ignored that, too entranced by her own thoughts.

"It's rather odd…  _ Why _ won't I kill any demons? You'd wonder, someone as strong as me, the  _ Archangel _ Uriel, why can't I kill anyone? Killing demons would bring more good in both our world, and the human world, no? And I could easily do it, I could just march into hell and kill all the demons, it wouldn't be hard."

"Oh, Satan almighty, shut the fuck up…" the demon mumbled angrily.

"You'd think that more good in the world is a good thing. No more suffering, no more sadness, nothing. Right?"

She took another bite of her sandwich, and sniffled.

"You'd think… you'd think that. But not really."

She chuckled, pushing her glasses back up her nose. "Because, really… what matters is… the balance."

She finished her sandwich, and rummaged through her box, taking an orange and slowly peeling it. 

"With evil, there is no good. Because without evil, you stop appreciating the good things. A human's dress getting a tear will make them remember that they liked it better before, and their loved ones dying will remind them of how much they loved them. Someone being persecuted and oppressed will cherish the happy moments more than someone who has always been loved and appreciated by everyone they met."

The demon was silent at Uriel's side. She turned to him, just to make sure he was still alive. He definitely was. He was just… resting. Though, not asleep. Uriel took a slice from her orange and leaned over to him.

"You want a slice?"

"Will that make you shut up?"

"No. But-"

"Then I don't want it."

Uriel chuckled, and ate it.  _ Not all demons are like Sylal and Beelzebub. Most of them were like this one here, angry, bitter and resentful. _

Nonetheless, she kept talking.  _ Her train of thoughts was taking her down a very interesting route. One she hadn't been through for so much time, and one she'd never gone this far into. _

"It's funny. Humans see angels as the winners, and demons as the ones who are slowly disappearing, and as those who will eventually lose. They see bad things as things that should stop existing entirely. And while, yes, bad things are…  _ bad,  _ the idea of them is only there to bring balance to the way things are."

She heard the demon roll on his back, and she shot a quick look at him. He had his eyes up, and was staring at the sky. Assuming he was listening, she got some more motivation to continue talking.

"We angels don't just fight evil. If we did, you demons simply wouldn't exist anymore, as we'd already have eradicated all of you. What we  _ do _ fight is the overwhelming of it. If evil starts to overpower good.  _ That's  _ what we don't like." She sighed, and rubbed her nose. "Humans. They bring so much evil with their existence, some almost rivalling that of demons, without even having said demons interact with them. It was… very bad, at first, back in the day. But it has grown more and more quiet over the centuries, hasn't it?" She pointed to the people below "In most places still, it's very bad, but I think we're starting to find a balance. Humans… don't seem to  _ understand  _ demons. Not like we do." She smiled, and looked at the demon. "I still have a lot to learn from you. And you from us. These past few months have definitely helped me understand things. And I know that you demons will never go away. And that some angels will always fall to sin, give their power to Lucifer, and some demons will gain grace, after making God notice their empathy. And that, all this… is in favor of balance. The balance of good and evil, one that must be maintained. And for that, a mutual respect must be upheld. One where no angel will ever kill any demons unless extremely necessary. And today is not that day." She looked down at the tourists below, and her halo flickered as her smile softened. "Another overwhelming amount of sin will come to try to fight us eventually. And we'll defend ourselves and humans alike. As we've always done."

She shot another look at the demon, who'd also been looking down along with her , and laughed softly. 

"It's been a long time, Azazel. You've changed. Took me a while to actually recognize you." She mumbled. He looked away, silent, and Uriel huffed, and stood up. "You should be healed by now. And I have work to get back to." 

She grabbed her lunchbox and took out a juice box, then tossed it to him. He caught it without looking, and looked at it.

"Should I tell Father hi for you?" She asked, flapping her wings to get ready to fly.

"You and I both know the answer to that." he grumbled.

Uriel chuckled bitterly, and pushed her glasses up. 

"I'll see you at Armageddon, then."

"And so you will."

And with that, she flew off, bag in hand, lighter than it had been earlier. 

She had work to do. And he probably did too.

But at least, their fight had made her think about things.

And she felt more at peace now.

**Author's Note:**

> This one was mostly just sparked by an actual internal monologue I had a few days back while I was cooking pasta. The questions of "why don't angels just kill all the demons?" and "if God exists, why doesn't he get rid of evil?" were lingering around in my mind. And I thought that Uriel would probably be very into these topics, as the absolute nerd that she is, and who better to talk about this to than a very annoyed Azazel?


End file.
